THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION

“The irrepressible conflict is about to be visited upon us through the
Black Republican nominee and his fanatical, diabolical Republican
party,” ran an appeal to the voters of South Carolina during the
campaign of 1860. If that calamity comes to pass, responded the governor
of the state, the answer should be a declaration of independence. In a
few days the suspense was over. The news of Lincoln’s election came
speeding along the wires. Prepared for the event, the editor of the
Charleston Mercury unfurled the flag of his state amid wild cheers
from an excited throng in the streets. Then he seized his pen and wrote:
“The tea has been thrown overboard; the revolution of 1860 has been
initiated.” The issue was submitted to the voters in the choice of
delegates to a state convention called to cast off the yoke of the
Constitution.